The employee, a foreign national with only limited command of English, claimed unfair dismissal. It was responded on behalf of her former employers, now in liquidation, that there could be no unfair dismissal since there had been no deductions of National Insurance and Income Tax, and that therefore the contract was illegal.
Held: The factual findings were unclear. It had been the employment tribunal which had of its own motion raised the argument that the contract was illegal. The EAT had applied the wrong test. The decision was incorrect, but might have been different had the applicant a greater understanding of English law and practice.
Judges:
The Right Honourable Lord Justice Ward, The Right Honourable Lord Justice Wall and The Right Honourable Lord Justice Hooper
Citations:
[2004] EWCA Civ 1085, Times 30-Aug-2004
Links:
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Wheeler v Qualitydeep Ltd T/A Thai Royale Restaurant (In Liquidation) EAT 2-Mar-2004
EAT Unfair Dismissal – Compensation – Unfair Dismissal – Acquiescence / knowledge of illegality of contract prevented a claim for unfair dismissal. . .
Cited – Hall v Woolston Hall Leisure Limited CA 23-May-2000
The fact that an employment contract was tainted with illegality of which the employee was aware, did not deprive the employee of the possibility of claiming rights which were due to her under a statute which created rights associated with but not . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Employment
Updated: 11 June 2022; Ref: scu.200536